Interviews

British director Luke Holland died in June after the completion of Final Account, for which he interviewed the last generation of Germans – from Waffen SS to non-military citizens – who, one way or another, played a role in the Holocaust.

Like Pasolini and Mel Gibson before him, Milo Rau journeys to the Italian city of Matera to shoot the tale of Christ’s Passion. But Rau’s Christ is a modern-day anti-slavery activist, his apostles are migrants, and the witnesses to (and participants in) the crucifixion are Matera’s townsfolk and tourists.

Documentary meets gumshoe in Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent which world premiered at Sundance 2020 and premieres digitally in North America September 1, courtesy of Gravitas Ventures. The director talks to BDE.

Pripyat Piano, a short creative documentary by noted Czech composer and filmmaker Eliška Cílková, reveals a hidden memory of ghost town, Pripyat, home to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The film is part of the IDF East Silver Caravan.

In the powerful and jarring Hold Me Right, Serbian actress and rape victim Danijela Stajnfeld discusses the trauma experienced by her and other survivors, at the same time examining the motives of a number of rapists and perpetrators of sexual violence.

Visual artist Mladen Bundalo returns to Bosnia and Herzegovina to tell a hopeful tale of migration, as experienced by the eponymous hero of the title.

The Bosnian capital’s first Gay Pride celebration in 2019 provides the dramatic backdrop for Ado Hasanović’s short documentary, selected for Sarajevo FF.

Three further projects were pitched at Sarajevo, on the nature of memory, the legacy of freethinking in the time of Czech Normalisation, and an intimate confession from a woman to her brother.

It may be beautiful but Český Krumlov, the second most visited city in the Czech Republic, is unrecognisable as an urban community. The reason? Over-tourism. Meanwhile, in Elevation, an ageing Ukrainian ski-coach confronts his demons in search of renewed success.

2017 Locarno Golden Leopard winner Wang Bing talks to BDE about his new project, dealing with African migration to Guangzhou (China), whose realisation is temporarily interrupted by the global pandemic.